This invention relates to ball delivery apparatus used in games and particularly to a system for program controlled ball delivery.
Ball delivery apparatus has been used in the game of tennis for practice and instruction. A sequence of tennis balls is ejected from the apparatus to desired areas of the tennis court, so that the player can practice as though playing with an opponent or instructor. Such apparatus has enabled the user to choose the trajectory of each tennis ball in a sequence to simulate the game conditions that he wishes to practice.
It has been found that for most effective use of such apparatus, the user should be able to easily program an entire sequence of play by selecting each location on the tennis court where the ball is to be played and also by selecting the shot type (lob, drive or serve) for the particular ball. To closely simulate actual play for training purposes, the time interval between successive balls of the sequence should be settable in accordance with the distance to be run by the player in going from the play of one ball to the next. Moreover, it would be desirable for training and instruction purposes that the user be able to select from an entire range of conditions calling for player skills going from easy to difficult.